The ECOMM CallTaker Video Test: Judgement Under Load

The CallTaker Video Test is the first segment of the ECOMM Comprehensive exam, and it asks you to do two things at once that pull against each other: form a judgement about a call, and take notes on it for a test you have not reached yet.

What it involves

The National Testing Network describes it as "a video-based exam" that "portrays a variety of emergency calls and focuses on situational judgment", designed specifically for emergency communications personnel.

The mechanics, in NTN's words:

• "Candidates watch video scenarios portraying call takers in different situations and take notes."
• "The notes you take during this test segment will be used to answer questions in a later test segment."
• "Each call is taken to a critical decision point where candidates must choose the best course of action in a multiple-choice format."
• "The test items play without stopping."

The four words that change how you prepare

"Play without stopping." There is no pause, no replay and no thinking time you control. A call runs, it reaches its decision point, you answer, and the next one begins. Anyone used to written tests where you can sit with a question will find the rhythm unfamiliar, and the adjustment costs marks on the first two or three items if you have not anticipated it.

The conflict at the heart of it

You are being scored on judgement now and on note quality later. Those want different behaviour. Good judgement wants you watching the caller — tone, what is said and not said, what the situation is turning into. Good notes want you writing.

Resolving that is the actual skill. What works:

• Write only what will not be inferable later. Names, numbers, addresses, times, weapon or vehicle details, and who is where. You will remember that a caller was frightened; you will not remember the house number.
• Use a fixed shape per call. Who, where, what, who else, hazards. A consistent frame lets you write in fragments and still read it back.
• Look up for the decision point. The critical moment is where the judgement mark is. Stop writing and watch.
• Do not transcribe. Trying to capture the call verbatim guarantees you miss both the judgement and the next detail.

Answering the judgement questions

It is a situational judgement test, so the options are mostly plausible and the ranking between them is the point. NTN's framing is useful: "the test is not designed to be a test of policy or technical components. Candidates are only asked to know what is stated during the tests."

So do not reach for agency procedure you half-remember, and do not import what a particular department does. Work from what the call has actually told you.

The general ordering that fits emergency call handling:

• Immediate danger first. Anything that addresses a risk to life outranks anything that improves the quality of the information.
• Then what gets help moving. Location above almost everything else; you cannot send anyone anywhere without it.
• Then verification and detail.
• Last, anything that defers. Options that put the caller on hold to consult, or that wait to see what develops, usually rank bottom unless the call genuinely calls for it.

Be wary of the option that resolves the caller's distress most quickly. Reassurance is part of the job, but an option that calms the caller while leaving the danger unaddressed is exactly the distractor these tests are built around.

The Express version is different

Confusingly, the Express exam also has a segment called the CallTaker Video Test, but NTN describes it as "a written multiple-choice situational judgment test". You read scenarios rather than watching them, and there is no linked note-taking segment. Our page on Comprehensive versus Express sets out which is which.

Practising it

Our call taking drill plays audio calls and asks what matters from them, call summarisation trains capturing a call in a usable form, and decision making covers the judgement format.

The full ECOMM guide covers the whole exam, and the note-taking test covers what happens to the notes you take here.

Sources

• National Testing Network, Emergency Communications Operator Testing with ECOMM
• National Testing Network, Data Entry and Computer Simulations (ECOMM National Computer Simulations)

ECOMM is administered by the National Testing Network, Inc. DispatchDrills is an independent practice provider and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the National Testing Network, Inc. or Ergometrics. We do not reproduce exam content; every example in our material is original and illustrative.

Common questions

What is the CallTaker Video Test?

The situational judgement segment of ECOMM Comprehensive. You watch video scenarios of emergency calls, take notes, and choose the best course of action at each call's critical decision point.

Can I pause or replay the videos?

NTN states the test items play without stopping.

Are the notes scored?

Not in this segment. They are used to answer the Recording Pertinent Information test that follows.

Do I need to know agency policy?

No. NTN states candidates are only asked to know what is stated during the tests.

Is the Express CallTaker test also video?

No. NTN describes the Express version as a written multiple-choice situational judgement test.

What should I write down?

Details you cannot reconstruct later — names, numbers, addresses, times, descriptions and locations — rather than a transcript.